Removing Shiny Topcoat on Shoes / Keith Highlander Pictorial

[tonup277]

excuse my lack of knowledge - what's "binder"?

 

[rnoldh]

They look good.

Any idea what the sole is made of?

 

[DocHolliday]

Did you happen to get those at a Brooks outlet? Or did they come from one of the regular stores? If the latter, I'd be tempted to take them back and complain. Were the others all so shiny?

 

[tonup277]

i hadn't considered that...should i take them back?
i got them at the BB store on rodeo when i was in LA...they were on sale.

the wrinkles are beginning to really bother me.

 

[cvac]

Does all corrected grain/ binder leather look that bad after a time? If so I will avoid it.

 

[tonup277]

ya, i'm really regretting getting these. granted, they were 50% off on sale...but still, that $ could've been used on some other nice shoes.

geeze, you think BB will take these back or refund me even though they were on sale and have been worn 2x already?

 

[DocHolliday]

Originally Posted by tonup277

ya, i'm really regretting getting these. granted, they were 50% off on sale...but still, that $ could've been used on some other nice shoes.

geeze, you think BB will take these back or refund me even though they were on sale and have been worn 2x already?

Can't hurt to talk to them. They've got a pretty good track record of standing by their merchandise.

 

[tonup277]

and just one thing - for my own education - is corrected grain leather supposed to crease like this? or does it appear that there's something wrong with these shoes, that's beyond the normal for corrected grain?

having this info would certainly help the cause when i go speak w/BB.

 

[DocHolliday]

CG is prone to heavy creasing. I bought a pair of J&Ms that quickly came to look like a china cup glued back together. Never again.

 

[tonup277]

F*CK.

 

[emptym]

Wow, if that much creasing is caused by two wears, I'd take them back. I have two corrected grain shoes that are 10+ yrs old (J Crew and Gucci) and neither of them have cracking quite that bad.

 

[tonup277]

just came back from BB on Madison. extremely pleasant experience - took only 5 minutes to get a full refund. zero hassle.
BB just won a return customer, as far as i'm concerned.

note to self: stay the hell away from corrected grain!

 

[ElDuke]

Do you still have the 10.5D Keith Highlander shoe? Will take for $50. Confirm

All in all it took maybe 10 minutes to strip them and another 10 minutes to polish them (exluding dry times). And remember, these shoes are now famous and can be yours for $50 shipped.[/quote]

Originally Posted by Henry Boogers

Okay, so I received my very expensive Keith Highlander shoes from Ebay for a whopping price of $35 + shipping last night and decided to 'Doc Holliday' them up a bit. Thanks to the Doc for his previous explanation and pictures of his work which gave be the confidence to give this a whirl. By the way, nowhere does it say 'Keith Highlander' on these shoes. (??)

I will show how this stripping was accomplished and also show what the shoe looks like in the finished state as I believe there are still several pairs for sale on Ebay. As for this pair, I have purchased far too many shoes recently and I am looking to sell these at a slight loss. I paid $34.99 + 9.95 shipping for a huge total of $44.94 and I will sell for $50 shipped. I had my fun with them, now somone needs to wear them...they are a 10.5D.

Alright, on with the show.

Doc has already shown the shoes in the 'shoe thread' on the B&S forum, but note the clear coat in my picture here:

I was at Wegman's last night (Grocery store) and since they didn't sell acetone (and I am impatient) I bought some plain nail polish remover, which is primarily acetone. I made sure not to buy the 'nail strengthening' formula or any other varient as these contain gelatin and other components that I didn't want to introduce into the equation.

Good ventiliation is highly recommended for this task as are proper gloves and eye protection.

So I dabbed a little on a cloth and began wiping with moderate finger pressure. This is what began to occur:

I gained confidence as I went along, since it seemed really hard to mess this up. I didn't rub too hard as I wanted to maintain a nice dark color. I would suspect that the color could be stripped if I worked it harder.

To get into the broguing and all of the crevices I used a toothbrush. Just dunk it in the bottle and scrub:

Here is how the before and after acetone treatment is starting to look:

After completing the second shoe, and going back to touch both shoes up one final time, I went on to the polishing stage. I could have hit them with leather conditioner here, but I wanted to go for a very dark burgundy since I already had a few pairs of longwings which were more red. I also thought the dark color might look good with jeans. Sooooo....I liberally applied some Allen Edmonds cordovan shoe cream, which is a very dark color. After they dried and were brushed I again applied cream, allowed them to dry, and brushed them. This stage was done while I worked on other shoes...

I suppose here is a good point to mention that my other favorite tool is a cheap screwdriver kit I purchased at Harbor Freight Tools for less than the cost of a coffee at Starbucks. These small screwdrivers are great for cleaning out broguing and little creases.

After this was completed I applied a little bit of shoe polish and gave them a good brush and buff with a cloth. I chose not to go nuts with the polish to keep them a little more casual looking. I think that as they are worn a polishing here and there will serve them well in the future.

So.....(and sorry for the lousy pictures, it was 8:30PM in my basement)....here is the finished product:

All in all it took maybe 10 minutes to strip them and another 10 minutes to polish them (exluding dry times). And remember, these shoes are now famous and can be yours for $50 shipped.

 

[Johnathan]

nm

 

[Henry Boogers]

Sorry, these have been sold looong ago.